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Irish and English couple, aged 33 and 29. Living in Melbourne for 4 years, we both met out here 3 years ago. Recently applied and granted permanent residency.
Our plan was to stay for another 2 years to get citizenship and then move back home to get married and start a family. We would then have the flexibility to move back to Australia in our late 30's / early 40's (e.g. when the children are ready for school).
The complication for us is the recent change from 2 years to 4 years to apply for citizenship. It makes decisions about where and when to get married, buy a house and start a family a lot harder.
We are also struggling with getting good, unbiased advice (for example; family want us back home, friends in Australia want us to stay etc). A lot of peoples point of view doesn't go deeper than the immediate, emotional layer and we need to try and move beyond this.
We would like some thoughts on two options we are currently working through:
1. Move back to UK or Ireland within the next few months, with the plan to return within the 5 yr return visa allowed with permanent residency. During our time at home we would likely buy a house and get married (maybe have a child or wait until we get back to Australia - tbc!). On return, we would be settling in Australia and get our citizenship this route. We like this option as our preference is to spend our 30's back with close friends and family. There is obviously a risk with this option that we would not return (and most of our friends believe we won't).
2. We stay for the 4 years and get our citizenship (at this stage we would be 38 and 34). After we get our passport we would likely head back to UK / Ireland for a number of years. During the 4 years, we would want to get married, put our savings down (e.g. buy a house or shares) and maybe even have a child. We would likely organise the wedding from Australia but go back to get married in the UK. On the plus side, we are here now and we will get to citizenship quicker. On the downside, we won't be able to spend these important years with friends and family.
Overall, we only know life as a couple living in Australia (as we met here). So although we love it, we don't know what a life would be like living back in UK or Ireland. Add in buying a house, getting married and starting a family during this time - and the decision gets more complex!
Thoughts?! What else should we be thinking about to help our decision?

Hi!
My partner and I recently applied separately for WHVs (in the last week of February roughly), I'm from the UK, he is from the Rep. of Ireland.
I got my approval through within 48 hours. However, after a week they asked him to supply a copy of his old passport (from when he was previously in Australia when he was 2yo). He did so, and they thanked him and said they can continue to process his application.
Its now been 4 weeks, and the only time frame the bureau gave us was "weeks to months', before he gets a response. Additionally, I have also been to Oz before when I was younger, but was never asked for my old passport.
Has anyone (from Ireland or otherwise) ever been in this position, and know when I can expect to hear back from them, or why his application has taken such a different route? They said they have no reason to reject his application, but theres some nervousness that makes me wonder why they are taking so long! We are very keen to book tickets, look for accommodation and start sending off CVs etc, but the wait means that everything is getting delayed (and more expensive) as we are planning on going in September.
Thanks

Hi all,
new to the forums and loads of great information on it. The one thing I didn't come across was if anyone knows of good shipping companies in Ireland that will do the full move.. packing, delivery and unloading. It seems there is a few great ones in the UK but just wondering which is good from Dublin.
All the best M

Hi Folks,
need to start organizing the shipping of the two dogs, looking for some info. We are based in Dublin and need to get a Yorkie and a Basset Hound to Oz. We are looking at leaving mid March 2013, we have two options, fly the dogs straight out or leave them with the folks for a few months until we are settled and have them picked up. Frank (the basset) is a big lad, prob 1.2 - 1.3m head to tail, Clyde (yorkie) is prob 30 - 40cm.
If anyone has time frames on jabs etc, i could do with the info! Also, if anyone has ballpark figures for getting both to NSW / Victoria, thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Kev

Guys/girls,
I have recently established the Brisbane Northern Ireland Supporters Club. Now the member numbers are fairly moderate at present, however everyone is welcome to come along and have a beer or 2 at our meetings.
If there are any expats who share a love for Northern Irish football, Northern Ireland, Ireland, football or any mix of the above(or generally just like Northern Irish folk) please pm me
Cheers guys
Owen

Hi, My partner has applied for a 457 visa and I'm hoping to travel as his de facto partner.
We're together nearly seven years, but because of work circumstances have lived in two different cities, commuting to each other every other weekend. Over the past two years, he's been able to spend more time with me - leaving here on Mon/Tues mornings and returning Thurs/Fri evenings.
However, we never added his name to my lease or bills so have no proof that we've lived together.
We submitted our visa application along with car insurance (he's a named driver on my insurance), yearly travel insurance, a number of flight itineraries going back six and a half years, a joint credit union account statement for 2012 and two wedding invitations addressed to us both.
We've just been asked to provide further evidence of our relationship so have put some photographs together of us in various places over the years (on holidays, at weddings and at family graduations) and have organised four statutory declarations - one from his parents, a mutual friend, a local councillor and one from my employers. My partner is also planning to include a copy of a book he dedicated to me.
Is there anything else we could submit? I've trawled through dozens of threads and some people mentioned writing individual or joint statutory declarations. Does anyone know if these need to be witnessed and if so, can a garda do so in Ireland?
Also, can anyone give us an idea of how long it takes to process the 457 visa application if we get the info back to them within a few days? My partner is due to start work at the end of July and we're waiting to book flights and begin shipping our belongings.
Thanks!

Hi all,
we are looking for shipping companies to ship from Ireland to Melbourne,has anyone had good or bad experiences with company's they would like to share?
I got what i think is a good quote from Careline but not really sure what the going rate from Ireland is?
Having worked it out approx. it would be around 2.5 or 90 cu/ft so it would be a shared container.
Thanks

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a good and reliable shipping company from the Republic or Ireland? Although we're from Scotland I'm currently working in Cork and most of our belongings are here, so makes sense to ship from here too.
We don't have a lot to take (keeping a house in Scotland and will be able to store some non-essential in the loft) maybe 1-2 cbm (not much really, just extra clothes and electrical stuff)
Thanks,
Stu

Hi everyone
could i get some recommendations on pet carriers from Ireland to Australia please also after the 30days when dog finished quarantine in sydney how do i organise flying him to brisbane ? any help appreciated.

Can anyone reccommend a good pet carrier in Ireland?:animal-dog:
Anyone give any indication on the price? We have a king charles cavalier!
We've thought about not bringing her and leaving her with family as we are going out on a 457. I know the kids would be devastated!
Anyone leave there dog at home when they emigrated??
:no:
Thanks

Hi,
I have just joined the site and we will be a family of 4 hoping to go to Perth at some stage. Our original plan was that we would rent our house out. The house prices are so crap here , even though we are in out house nearly 10 years we still have 23 years left on mortgage and our house is only worth the balance that is left on the mortgage if even.
Only problem is that I have been reading that unless you own your house outright the bank may not let you rent the house out. Our mortgage is with AIB here. Just wondering does anyone have any info on this ?
Thanks
Kaz

Hi all,
What kind of prices are you getting to ship from Ireland. I am getting ranges from 3200 - 7000 for a 20' and a 40'.
And each company's pricing are quite different. Who did you use and what kind of prices did you get.
I am taking my car and household items.
Thanks
Smelf1

hi. moving with my husband & 2 kids early next year to Perth..terrified:biggrin:..my husband is being sponsored on the 457 visa. the kids are aged 4 & 2. I am finding it very hard to find information on schools. I am hearing they are very expensive ..and that we will end up paying 000 for schooling every year. What age do they start school over there? should I be trying to get in contact now.. I don't know what area we will be movning too. I would like somewhere near park or amenities for the kids...near the shops for me! :wink: try & keep the homesickness away...is there any advice you can give me....what about doctor visits for children...am sure i will have loads of more question

Hi guys,
Our movers came yesterday and packed up our house - have to say they were fantastic. Very professional, organised and nice. Only problem for some reason I had misread the insurance quote and only realised yesterday morning that it was 3.5% Nearly lost my life as we had budgeted about €500 to €700 and it was going to be a multiple of that.
So at about 7am yesterday i got on the net - found insureyourmove in the UK that does it for about 1.6% which would have been brilliant but couldn't figure out if they covered Ireland and their number was a freephone one so couldn't call it from Ireland.
So I got googling - found that Allianz did it but will only quote through a broker. Googled again and found a broker called Affinity Insurance. Rang them and spoke to Alexandra who got me a quote for €800 in less than an hour - this was 2.1% which was a big improvement on the movers quote. Alexandra felt she could do better for us but given that I had left things to the very last minute we took that quote (Insurer was Allianz).
So I just thought I would let other Irish people know that there are other options to your movers insurance provider (ours would have dropped their quote to 2.5% but still not as good as Affinity).
If anyone is interested I can give contact details but you can google them and get their website fairly easily.
Good luck everyone!
Kate

I am finalising the shipping next week, but I can't make up my mind who to choose, can anyone shed any light on this horrible aspect of moving:arghh:. I am so confused :confused::confused::confused: need advice...please!!!
We are going in January, so any Irish POMs can you let me know who you choose, private message is fine if you don't want to put the names down.
Thanks
D

My husband spent some time in the army in northern Ireland and our CO requested police checks for both UK and NI, do we need to get two separate checks done? His certificate came in the post today but no mention on it of anything to do with NI even though we put his NI address on it, does anyone have any experience of this?
Many thanks,
Alison

Hi,
Could you please give me advise on importing a Mazda RX8 from Ireland to Perth?
Im wanting to know how much would it cost to import my car and to get it registered etc because to buy the same model, year km's etc over here seems to cost around $18,000??!!! http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/images/smilies/chatterbox.gif
Make: Mazda
Model: RX8
60,000 km's
Year: 2004
Value: €4,500 / $6,500
Bought the car 3weeks ago
Any help would be much appreciated

Come on!!
Surely there must be some people moving from N. Ireland to go and live in Australia??
Please, Please someone send me some recommendations on who to use with regard to shipping the contents of my house.
Is it cheaper to use a company from the south of Ireland or England? The only one I have come across from N. Ireland is McGimpseys. Has any one used them, can they recommend them?
:arghh::arghh::arghh:

As an Englishmen , iam disappointed about the revelations and behaviour of some of our rugby players in NZ.
I thought only our so called footballers were capable of such stupidity and naivety.
In contrast the Welsh have got their act together .....a new young ,focussed captain in Sam Warburton , a togetherness in the team , which hasnt always been the case.
As they have such strong minded individuals , like the Dutch soccer team , its often hard to galvanize them .....but not this time.
Apparently the Welsh players havent had a beer for months now , and their training has been extensive .
The game between Ireland and Wales should be a cracker ,and i think one of these will rightly represent the Northern hemisphere in the final.

So is there any welsh or irish havin a party that we can join in on!! Im so fed up with watchin the world cup with Aussies and sing the welsh anthem on me own!! HAHA No babysitters mean no pub which was traditional :sad:
I really really really miss a good drink on an international day!!!
Just havin a sulk really, what you all doin??? :wink:
One welsh mad lady
Jules xx

Two tests, international rules (AFL with a round ball !) October 28th Etihad Melbourne and Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast.
Come on all you Irish members, come and have a lovely night out and watch a bit of BIFFO !
www.ticketmaster.com.au